MANTODEA Praying Mantis Ootheca

Don Herbison-Evans (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com ) and Stella Crossley

(Photo: courtesy of Chelsea Napier, Adelaide, South Australia)

This is not a cocoon of a caterpillar, but is the egg case of a Praying Mantis. It is a stiff foam-like object, sometimes angular or sometimes rounded, in size about 1 cm. It is usually attached to a branch or twig. Typically it contains about 100 eggs, which in due course hatch into baby praying mantids.

(Photo: courtesy of Chelsea Napier, Adelaide, South Australia)

There are about 160 species of Praying Mantis in Australia, and each has its own habits and form of its egg-case.

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(written 25 January 2017)